I used to wear old sneakers all the time too. The reason I initially bought the hiking boots was that the Suzuki Ozark I owned at the time took a bit of extra effort to shift and it hurt my toe to shift it with sneakers on. The hiking boots had a bit stiffer toe area and the extra weight made it easier to shift. The extra traction when you get off the quad in the mud is nice too. With my crappy old sneakers, I'd find myself having a hard time getting footing in the slippery stuff. Got tired of falling on my rear and just wear the boots all the time now. I have been fortunate to never have had a serious injury riding up to this point.